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Robber vs Crook - What's the difference?

robber | crook |

As nouns the difference between robber and crook

is that robber is a person who robs while crook is a bend; turn; curve; curvature; a flexure.

As a verb crook is

to bend.

As an adjective crook is

bad, unsatisfactory, not up to standard.

robber

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A person who robs.

    • Hyponyms

    * bank robber * mugger

    Hypernyms

    * thief

    Derived terms

    * robber baron * robber crab * robber fly * robber gull

    Related terms

    * rob * robbery

    crook

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) croke, crok, from (etyl) *.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A bend; turn; curve; curvature; a flexure.
  • :
  • *(Thomas Phaer) (c.1510-1560)
  • *:through lanes, and crooks , and darkness
  • A bending of the knee; a genuflection.
  • A bent or curved part; a curving piece or portion (of anything).
  • :
  • *
  • *:It was flood-tide along Fifth Avenue; motor, brougham, and victoria swept by on the glittering current; pretty women glanced out from limousine and tonneau; young men of his own type, silk-hatted, frock-coated, the 'crooks of their walking sticks tucked up under their left arms, passed on the Park side.
  • (lb) A lock or curl of hair.
  • (lb) A gibbet.
  • (lb) A support beam consisting of a post with a cross-beam resting upon it; a bracket or truss consisting of a vertical piece, a horizontal piece, and a strut.
  • A shepherd's crook; a staff with a semi-circular bend ("hook") at one end used by shepherds.
  • *1970 , The New English Bible with the Apocrypha, Oxford Study Edition'', published 1976, Oxford University Press, ''Psalms 23-4, p.583:
  • *:Even though I walk through a / valley dark as death / I fear no evil, for thou art with me, / thy staff and thy crook are my / comfort.
  • A bishop's staff of office.
  • An artifice; a trick; a contrivance.
  • *(Thomas Cranmer) (1489-1556)
  • *:for all your brags, hooks, and crooks
  • A person who steals, lies, cheats or does other dishonest or illegal things; a criminal.
  • *1973 November 17, (Richard Nixon), reported 1973 November 18, The Washington Post'', ''Nixon Tells Editors, ‘I'm Not a Crook’ ,
  • *:"People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook'. Well, I?m not a ' crook . I?ve earned everything I?ve got."
  • A pothook.
  • *Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • *:as black as the crook
  • (lb) A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.
    • Synonyms
    * (criminal) See
    Derived terms
    * by hook or by crook * by hook or crook (US)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To bend.
    • He crooked his finger toward me.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee.
  • * 1917 , , Part 4, Chapter 5,
    • “.
  • To turn from the path of rectitude; to pervert; to misapply; to twist.
  • * Ascham
    • There is no one thing that crooks youth more than such unlawful games.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • Whatsoever affairs pass such a man's hands, he crooketh them to his own ends.
    Derived terms
    * crooked (adjective)

    Etymology 2

    From . Australian National Dictionary Centre Home » Australian words » Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms » C

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Bad, unsatisfactory, not up to standard.
    • That work you did on my car is crook , mate
    Not turning up for training was pretty crook .
    Things are crook at Tallarook.
  • * 2004 , , A Cry from the Dark , page 21,
    • “Things are crook at home at the moment.”
    “They?re always crook at my home.”
  • (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Ill, sick.
    • I?m feeling a bit crook .
  • (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Annoyed, angry; upset.
    • be crook''' at/about''; ''go '''crook at
  • * 2006 , Jimmy Butt, Felicity Dargan, I've Been Bloody Lucky: The Story of an Orphan Named Jimmy Butt , page 17,
    • Ann explained to the teacher what had happened and the nuns went crook at me too.
  • * 2007 , Jo Wainer, Bess'', ''Lost: Illegal Abortion Stories , page 159,
    • I went home on the tram, then Mum went crook at me because I was late getting home—I had tickets for Mum and her friend to go to the Regent that night and she was annoyed because I was late.
  • * 2007 , Ruby Langford Ginibi, Don?t Take Your Love to Town , page 100,
    • I went crook at them for not telling me and as soon as she was well enough I took her home to the camping area and she soon picked up.
  • * 2009 , Carolyn Landon, Cups With No Handles: Memoir of a Grassroots Activist , page 234,
    • Mum went crook at me for wasting money, but when Don got a job and spent all his money on a racing bike, she didn?t say a thing to him.

    Usage notes

    Synthetic comparative and superlative forms (crooker'', ''crookest ) also find frequent use.
    Derived terms
    * crook as Rookwood

    References